Three al-Qaeda terror suspects arrested

THREE suspected al-Qaeda terrorists were arrested yesterday over an alleged plot linked to planned bomb attacks on a UK shopping precinct and the New York subway, according to Norwegian and American officials.

They believe the men were planning to use portable but powerful bombs similar to that used in a failed suicide attack on the New York subway, which US Attorney General Eric Holder described as one of the most serious plots since 9/11. US prosecutors revealed on Wednesday the existence of a related plot in Manchester.

The plots underscore al-Qaeda's interest in smaller-level attacks that don't require the planning and co-ordination of the 11 September, 2001, atrocities in which airplanes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. They also follow a trend in which al-Qaeda has used people inside potential target countries, rather than trying to sneak operatives across increasingly secure international borders.

The three men, whose names were not released, had been under surveillance for more than a year.

Two were arrested in Norway and one in Germany. Officials would not reveal if the men had selected a target.

Those arrested in Norway included a 39-year-old Norwegian of Uighur origin who has lived in Norway since 1999 and a 31-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan who had a permanent Norwegian residency permit, said Janne Kristiansen, head of Norway's Police Security Service.

The man arrested in Germany was a 37-year-old Iraqi with a Norwegian residency permit, Ms Kristiansen said.

She did not say exactly where the arrests took place but said all three men "had connections to Oslo".

Norwegian and US officials believe the Norway plan was organised by Salah al-Somali, al-Qaeda's former chief of external operations who is in charge of plotting attacks worldwide. Al-Qaeda usually keeps its plots compartmentalised, and officials do not believe the suspects in Norway knew about the other plots.

Al-Somali, who was killed in a CIA drone airstrike last year, has been identified in US court documents as one of the masterminds of the New York subway plot. Two men have pleaded guilty in that case, admitting they planned to detonate explosives during the city's rush hour. A third man awaits trial.

Officials said the men were attempting to make peroxide bombs, the powerful homemade explosives that prosecutors say were used in both New York and Manchester. Both the Norwegians and Americans said it was unclear whether the men ever perfected how to make peroxide bombs.

They also said they believed the arrests had ended the threat.

"According to our evaluation, the public has never been at risk," Kristiansen said.

American and Norwegian counter-terror officials worked closely together to unravel the Norwegian plot, officials said. Ms Kristiansen travelled to the US this spring to discuss the closely held intelligence gathered by investigators.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg urged Norwegians not to allow the arrests to fuel prejudice.

"These are separate individuals that are responsible for criminal acts," Mr Stoltenberg said. "It is always bad to judge a whole group of people from what individuals are doing and that is independently of what group these people belong to."

Even though it was not clear if Norway was a target, al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has called for attacks on it among other countries.

Magnus Norell, a terrorism expert at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, said Norway's 500 troops in Afghanistan could be a factor, as could the 2006 controversy sparked by a Danish newspaper's publication of 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. z